Swim star Graeme Lyons hangs up his trunks after two decades in pool

One of West Dunbartonshire Swimming Club’s longest members marked the end of an era this month as he retired from the sport after competing for almost two decades.

Graeme Lyons, who has been swimming with the West Dunbartonshire club for more than 20 years, decided to hang up his trunks last month and mark the end of his successful career.

The 28-year-old from Balloch won a string of British and Scottish Championships throughout his time at West Dunbartonshire Swimming Club, and just missed his chance at representing Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi — finishing 0.07 seconds outside of the qualifying time. Graeme said: “I missed the Delhi games by less than a second, which was disappointing, but I was always keen to keep competing.

“It’s easy to just carry on, especially when you’re winning, but there are times when you never want to even look at a swimming pool again.

“But it all changes as soon as you win a gold medal.”

He went on: “I was around 14 or 15 when I started to win Scottish competitions.

“I later went on to win British Junior Championship and Scottish Junior and Senior Championships.

“It was my first ever British Championship when I won the junior title at the age of 15.

“That was a big achievement for me as it was my first time in a competition like that and I came home with a gold medal.”

Graeme has travelled across Britain, and ventured to Berlin and Barcelona to compete throughout the years.

But the swim star, who is now settled in Dumbarton with his wife Nikki, says that although he no longer competes professionally, swimming is a habit he can’t kick.

He added: “The first week I was sitting about and I had no idea what to do with all my spare time.

“Swimming has been part of my life since I was born and I have been competing for around 20 years with West Dunbartonshire.

“I loved competing, so even though I am not competing anymore I am still swimming at 5am every morning just to keep fit.”